H&M initiates garment recycling campaign among youth

April 19, 2014 (United States Of America)

DoSomething.org, one of the largest organizations for young people and social change and H&M, one of the world's largest fashion retailers, are teaming up with Olivia Wilde to get young people across the country excited about clothing recycling and sustainable fashion through a campaign called Comeback Clothes. The campaign encourages young people to give their old and worn-out clothing a new life through recycling.

From April 17 to June 20, young people can collect old and worn-out clothing in their schools and communities and drop them off in garment recycling bins at any H&M store. All brands and all conditions will be accepted. H&M will send these clothes to a recycling facility, where they will be given a new life. The vast majority of fabric can be recycled, yet 85% of all textiles end up in landfills each year--that's 11.1 million tons, the equivalent of over 70 billion t-shirts.

"We are proud of the achievements made since we launched our garment recycling initiative last year at H&M. We are also aware of the challenges ahead, which is why we have partnered with DoSomething.org. We want to positively affect the environment by offering our customers a convenient way to recycle," says Daniel Kulle, U.S. President for H&M.

"Everyone has a t-shirt with a coffee stain that sits in the back of her closet," says Nancy Lublin, CEO and "Chief Old Person" at DoSomething.org. "Comeback Clothes is awesome because it's an easy way for young people to help the planet and repurpose all of those single socks."

Actress, activist, and Conscious Commerce co-founder, Olivia Wilde recorded a public service announcement for the campaign as "Princess Layers," a super-ish hero with the ability to remove a layer of clothing only to reveal... another layer of clothing. The power is not great at fighting crime, but perfect for recycling clothing.